Study Abroad Programs

English majors are encouraged to enhance their academic and professional portfolio through studying abroad. There are many programs across the globe that allow you to fulfill English major and ARHU degree requirements, ensuring you stay on-track to graduate.

Types of Study Abroad Programs

UMD offers you a number of different program options throughout the year to allow you to select a program that best fits your needs. For all options, you can apply your financial aid towards the cost of studying abroad and there are additional scholarships for study abroad. For more details see Educations Abroad's website for information on Scholarships and Financial Aid.

UMD-Administered Programs:

UMD Exchanges – semester or full year options; students access a full range of coursework at universities across the globe and pay their regular UMD tuition.

Maryland-in-Sevilla – Immerse yourself in southern Spain, learning and living the culture of Andalucía. Enhance your Spanish language proficiency, live with a homestay and study Spanish literature. Students with advanced proficiency can also complete an internship for academic credit. Note: you must have completed SPAN301 or higher to be eligible for this program.

USAC Ghana -Journey to the heart of West Africa and take courses in English at the University of Ghana. It is the perfect destination for those who want to learn about the complex issues facing a typical developing African nation while enjoying a rich cultural, historical and social experience. English coursework available includes: Critical Issues in African Literature, African-American Literature, Studies in African Prose, Ghanian Literature, Literature of the Black Diaspora, Studies in African Poetry.

ENGL faculty-led programs:

Winter Term:

ENGL391: United Kingdom: Tolkien in Oxford (Winter 2019) - Professors Peter Grybauskas and Dr. Christopher "Chip" Crane are taking students behind the scenes of Middle-eath to Oxford, England, where Tolkien lived, studied, taught, and wrote. You will get a chance to visit the halls of Merton and Exeter College in Oxford University, conduct research at the Bodleian Library where many of Tolkien’s manuscripts are housed, and hold writing workshops over meals in the same cozy inns frequented by Tolkien and his colleagues. This course satisfies both the University's Fundamental Studies requirement in Professional Writing and the heart's desire to follow in the footsteps of the 20th century's most influential world-builder and myth-maker. By participating in this program, you will be able to:

Recognize and analyze the ways in which Tolkien's scholarship and storytelling intersect.

Draw on Tolkien's work as a model for audience accommodation and multimodality in crafting your own rhetorically effective and inventive texts.

Accurately contextualize Tolkien's reception and reputation in the UK and the US over the past 50+ years.

Identify and explore key themes and controversies linked to Tolkien's work via a variety of professional writing genres.

ENGL369D/HONR349B: Australia: Literature and Culture -- Aboriginal to Contemporary (Winter 2018)- Join Professor Jason Rudy for an immersion into Australian culture and history. This course explores the literature, theater, and arts of aboriginal and contemporary Australia. It looks back to the colonial founding of Australia as a British outpost and considers how modern Australia has emerged from a mixing of Western and Indigenous cultures. This three-week program takes place in Sydney. See the Program Flyer. This course has been approved for the Gen Ed Humanities and Cultural Competence requirements.

ENGL369N/HONR349Z: New Zealand Literature and Culture(Winter 2016) - Professor Jason Rudy leads students on a journey through the landscape of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, immersing you in the culture, literature, and history of New Zealand. This course will look back to the colonial founding of New Zealand as a British outpost, and to the strong Maori culture the British encountered when they arrived. Click here to watch a brief video describing the course. Below is a student video, by Drew Rauso, Nathan Moskowitz, Carrie Wolford, and Rangimoana Taylor, documenting their travels and experieinces while in New Zealand during the Winter of 2014.

Summer Term:

ENGL369B/FILM369B: Methods and Issues in Film Preservation- Study Abroad in Bologna, Italy with Professor Oliver Gaycken as you learn first-hand about the vital role of film preservation in the maintenance and reclamation of cinematic patrimony. In this hands-on collaborative program, you will experience the work happening at film restoration laboratories which keeps the films we know and love available to us, as well as attend the annual film restoration festival Il Cinema Ritrovato.

ENGL409M: Study Abroad in London and East Anglia- Study Abroad in London and East Anglia in England is an intensive examination of British culture. With Professor Michael Olmert, students on the program study the History, Literature, Drama, Architecture, Art and Archeology of Britain by visiting London, Castle Acre (an East Anglian village in Norfolk), and a number of other historic and literary sites in England.

What do English Majors have to say?

The experience of studying abroad in Italy taught me that life should be lived three ways: simply, slowly, and beautifully. I reached a level of self-realization, maturity, and independence I don't think I could have achieved any other way.

--Corinne Canning, English major, class of 2013

Studying abroad has made a world of difference towards my cultural understanding and adaptability. Through an amazing theatre work placement, stellar professors, and activities all around the city of London and the U.K. proper, I have made memories and gained better insight and knowledge about the enormous world around me.